Procrastination can be defined as to "voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay" [1]. Procrastination is not the same as a strategic delay. A strategic delay involves a deliberate delay where the positive consequences outweigh the negative. Perhaps you’ve been working on a task for hours and find that you can no longer concentrate, taking a break is not procrastination since you believe that having a break will boost productivity. If you interrupt your work due to something genuinely urgent that is also not procrastination.

In short, we procrastinate to avoid tackling a task we find unpleasant. This delay might be against our long term interest, but in the short term, the alternatives to tackling the task are simply more enjoyable. By procrastinating we can avoid the negative mood associated with the original task [2].

At high school, students often have parents or teachers that nudge them in the right direction. Parents yell at their teenagers to get up in the morning or remind them to study for a test. They might even bribe them to get good grades. High school teachers will tell students off who don’t submit their work, or even call parents in for a meeting.

Typically, high school has a lot more contact hours, so even just turning up is enough to learn something. The university environment is completely different, there are fewer contact hours and self-study is the norm. Academic staff have no idea who students are and for the most part have little interest in whether a student attends classes or submits work.

This change in environment can often lead to small problems with procrastination spiralling out of control. Some students are chronic procrastinators while others procrastinate due to struggles adapting to the university environment. The focus on independent learning can result in issues sustaining motivation over a semester, especially when faced with difficult tasks [3].

In addition to the change of environment from high school to university, modern society provides endless distractions such as television, streaming services, video games, instant messaging, online shopping, and social media, all of which increase the risk of procrastination. Social media is an extremely common way of procrastinating. It is easily accessible, it gives a short term mood boost, and it distracts us from our current unpleasant but important task. Streaming services offer more shows than ever to watch on demand. Likewise, with each iteration, video games provide more sophisticated and immersive sound, graphics, and narratives. Nearly everyone has a mobile phone which, while a useful communication tool and source of information, is also a limitless source of distraction. Academic activities like studying a textbook or watching lectures are extremely boring and unattractive by comparison. When used appropriately, technology can provide enjoyment and be an effective work tool, but left unchecked it can sap our time and energy.

An early study by Solomon and Rothblum found a high proportion of students reporting that they always or nearly always procrastinated on weekly reading assignments (30%), writing a term paper (46%), and studying for exams (28%). Over 50% of students reported wanting to reduce their procrastination [4]. More recent studies show similar or worse percentages, with some studies showing up to 70% of university students considering themselves procrastinators [5]. Since these studies were completed the environment has become even more saturated with distractions suggesting the percentage of procrastinators could be even worse.

Unsurprisingly, procrastination is negatively associated with academic performance. Procrastinators do worse on assignments and quizzes and have lower course grades and Grade Point Averages (GPA) [6].

When a student delays work on assignments and puts off studying for tests, it is inevitable that they will perform worse. Some people say that they leave tasks to the last minute because they work best under pressure, but this is more an excuse than reality. Procrastinators don’t do well compared to non-procrastinators completing less of the task and making more errors [7]. Leaving tasks to the last minute just creates more stress.

Procrastination is associated with academic misconduct with 75% of procrastinators engaged in some sort of academic misconduct [8]. Social norms define acceptable behaviour and help ensure the society runs smoothly. If we break those norms we are often perceived negatively by the people around us. A common scenario at university is participating in a group project where one or more members procrastinate. This disrupts the entire group and causes the other members to perceive the procrastinators as lazy and inconsiderate.

The consequences of procrastination can extend well beyond university life. Individuals may delay starting to save for retirement, leaving them struggling in later years. Furthermore, procrastinators report more stress, have more health problems, delay seeking medical and dental treatment, and practice fewer wellness behaviours such as exercising or following a healthy diet [9, 10]. High levels of procrastination are associated with less career success such as lower salaries and a higher likelihood of being unemployed [11].

Why do we procrastinate? Studies show that the top reasons for procrastinating are that the task is viewed as unpleasant, difficult, boring, or stressful [12, 13]. The more unpleasant the task, the more we want to put it off [1]. Students tend to procrastinate on homework, assigned reading, and studying. They are less likely to procrastinate on things they enjoy such as playing sports or socialising.

Procrastination is also common in the work place. Workers may feel bored or dislike their job, which leads to procrastination in the form of delaying tasks and instead spending time gossiping or cyberslacking. According to researcher Fuschia Sirois, "Procrastination is a form of self-regulation failure that involves prioritizing short-term mood repair over the long-term pursuit of intended actions" [2].

An assignment might not be due for a couple of weeks, the exam is still a couple of months away, it just seems so far off, so it’s easy to delay any work till tomorrow or the day after. Maybe you try to stream some lectures — but the lecturer is just reading off PowerPoint slides in a monotone manner. It’s no surprise that web surfing, online shopping, or browsing social media is more interesting. Not all social media use is bad, sometimes a short break is a good idea, but it can easily get out of control.

Many different personality factors interact to cause procrastination [14]. High impulsiveness is associated with procrastination as is a lack of self-control [15]. Procrastinators seldom plan to delay their work, rather it is a spur of the moment thing when they are presented with a more enjoyable opportunity such as socialising [10, 1]. Procrastinators also tend to be low in conscientiousness.

Indecision is also a form of procrastinating. But why do we procrastinate about making a decision? Perhaps we are worried about making the wrong decisions, maybe we hope the decision will go away or that someone else will make it. However, making decisions is part of life, in order to be successful we have to make decisions. By putting off important decisions we are self sabotaging. Part of making decisions is that sometimes we will make the wrong decision [7].

This form of procrastination often shows up in group projects at University. Some members of the group are reluctant to make important decisions and refuse to participate. That way, if the project works out well, they can get good grades. But if the project is a failure, then they can blame other group members for making bad decisions. Their self-esteem is intact because they don’t feel responsible for the wrong decision.

Tasks have different stages, it’s common to feel enthusiastic at one stage, but as the stages get more difficult, procrastination starts to occur and the task gets abandoned. It’s extremely common for university students to start a course/unit with great enthusiasm, but as time passes, boredom, resentment, and frustration increase. Soon, students struggle to attend lectures or complete assignments. Inevitably, they start researching how to withdraw from a course without academic penalty.

This happens in all aspects of life, people start a hobby like playing the guitar with a frenzy of activity, but as they realise how much practice is needed, sessions get further apart until they are abandoned all together. The guitar gathers dust for a while before eventually being listed on an online auction site.

Despite procrastination being common among university students, many struggle to identify effective interventions. Their university may not offer specific support in this area, and they may not have the time or motivation to read self-help books. Sometimes procrastination leads to academic misconduct or dropping out of university [8].

Procrastination researcher Piers Steel has proposed a procrastination equation. The reason we mention this equation is that it highlights clearly some of the factors that drive procrastination.

\$"Motivation" = frac{"Expectancy" xx "Value"}{"Impulsiveness" xx "Delay"}\$

The procrastination formula tells us several things. Firstly, the greater the value of the task, the more motivated we are. Secondly, the higher the expectancy of the payoff, the more motivated we are. Thirdly, the further the task is in the future, the less motivated we are (increasing delay decreases motivation). Lastly, the more impulsive we are, the more magnified the effect of delay becomes.

Expectancy is related to self-efficacy and believing that we can complete the task. If we perceive the task as difficult and that we are unlikely to succeed, that lowers expectancy.

Value is related to how pleasant or unpleasant we find the task. The more unpleasant the task, the more likely we are to put it off. The need for achievement also impacts the value of the task. Despite finding a task unpleasant, we may still want to do well. A student may dislike organic chemistry but still have a strong desire to do well because they need to get a high grade on the course.

Delay strictly speaking refers to the delay to reward. For an essay this could be when we get the mark back, but completing the essay could also be considered a reward. Either way, if the deadline for the task is far away, the long delay decreases motivation. In comparison, even tasks with a relatively small payoff will be more attractive if the payoff is immediate.

Impulsivity moderates the effect of delay. Less impulsive students feel the approaching deadline more acutely, so start working on the task earlier. It is well known that the human brain is not fully mature until age 25, which has implications for higher impulsivity. Many of the origins of impulsivity are in our evolutionary past where a short term focus made more sense. In the modern world, we need to pursue goals months, years, and even decades in the future. Readily available temptations and distractions dominate choices and create an environment that is at high risk for procrastination.

An example from a student’s perspective will make this clearer. Suppose a student has a large essay due in a month. They know they should start now because a number of assessments are due at the same time. Consider the following aspects of the task. The student wants to get an ‘A’ due to their desire to achieve a high GPA on their degree, yet they hate writing essays leaving the overall value at a modest level. The academic staff who mark the essays are known to be tough and erratic graders, so even if student works hard, they might not get the mark they want. This lowers the expectancy of a good payoff. The essay is not due for 3 weeks which is a high delay.

In contrast, some other students who live in the same block of student housing are going to a restaurant to socialise. The immediate enjoyment is far more enticing than working on an essay due later in the semester. In other words, the motivation to socialise at the restaurant exceeds the motivation to work on the essay.

The procrastination formula obviously doesn’t capture every aspect of human behaviour, but the general implications of this formula can help us understand where procrastination comes from and even help us design our lives to reduce procrastination.

Tasks like study, exercise, and so on become easier if we have a routine. Once a study schedule becomes a habit, there is less chance of it being derailed. The decision becomes which study related task I should work on rather than whether I should study. If you have time between lectures avoid making daily decisions about whether you will go to the gym, work on an assignment, have a cup of coffee, or chat with friends. Instead have specific time slots for certain activities. Eventually, a routine like this can become automatic, and it is easier to get started on whatever the activity is. This aligns with the popular folk wisdom to treat your degree like a 9 to 5 job. That is, you work steadily throughout the day and then use the evening and weekends to relax and engage in social and other activities.

Often a goal is just too abstract to put into practice. A student who is struggling with maths might have a goal "do better in calculus". That is too abstract. A more clearly defined goal for the calculus class is "score at least 60% in each test and at least 70% in each assignment". A clear target for each form of assessment now exists. The next step would be to break that down further in terms of specific study plans.

It is important for motivation to set clear and measurable goals. Inadequate goals lower motivation and disrupt problem-solving abilities. Longer term goals need to be broken down into subgoals [16]. Goals also need to be achievable. A goal that seems unachievable won’t be worked towards.

Large complex goals can seem overwhelming and represent a huge barrier to getting started. An effective strategy is to break large tasks into small manageable subtasks. Since motivation peaks close to a deadline, design subtasks so that they have a self-imposed deadline isn’t too distant. It’s likely that at university you will have many major assignments due at the same time. Break these assignments down into smaller tasks with closer deadlines. Similarly, preparation for a test could be broken down into seven 90-minute study sessions that are spaced two days apart and commenced a fortnight ahead of the test.

Careful time management and breaking down large tasks is one of the key factors for university success. A series of nearer goals increases motivation. Whatever the tasks you are working on, try to have a series of daily goals.

Often people set daily goals that are too ambitious. Their overwhelming nature makes it hard to get started. It’s fine to have larger goals, but each day focus on achievable subgoals. If each day consists of a packed schedule and a to-do list that is extremely long, then it’s time to be more realistic. Some of those things may not be achievable. It is time to think about what your priorities are.

In general, people will not engage and will feel deenergised by unreachable goals. If we identify goals that are unrealistic, in which we’ve lost interest, or where the timing isn’t quite right, these should be replaced with new or smaller goals.

When faced with a significant task, students may feel overwhelmed, which often leads to procrastination [7]. One important tip to overcome this is to just get started. Don’t wait until you are in the right mood, start with a time-limited effort on a small part of the task. For example, if you struggle to begin a study session, start with just 15 minutes of effort. It’s much easier to commence work in small chunks. A 15-minute study session followed by a break appears less intimidating than committing to an uninterrupted two-hour block.

Often dreaded tasks are not as bad as first thought. Once the initial barrier is broken, motivation flows freely. If you’ve been assigned a long list of questions for an accounting assignment, start the assignment with plenty of time before it is due and try just tackling the first question. Successfully putting this question behind you will build confidence. Then the next question won’t seem so intimidating. If the task is an essay, then consider reading one article and jotting down a few ideas. If you really don’t want to continue, then take a break.

Enjoy a reward after a successful study session such as watching an episode of your favourite streaming show and enjoying some snacks. If after completing a big assignment, you try to dive right into the next difficult task, that sends a message that the reward for hard work is more hard work.

Impulsiveness combined with a ready supply of distractions is a key cause of procrastination. Immediately available distractions make it easier to succumb to this impulsiveness. Video games, television, instant messaging, and social media seem to perpetually distract us from important longer term goals. Part of an effective strategy for dealing with procrastination is to create a low distraction environment.

It’s not always realistic, but having a space (even if it is small) dedicated to study is useful. This creates a clear physical and psychological separation between recreation and study. In general modifying our situation and removing temptations from sight is a key strategy for maintaining self-control [17]. It’s fine to have a few pictures or meaningful messages in your study space, but avoid items like puzzles which might become distracting.

Listening to music can make a task more enjoyable, but make sure the music is compatible with the task and not distracting. Most genres with lyrics are going to degrade your study performance. Try finding some music without lyrics that can help block out background noise.

Often minor obstacles or issues will arise that can easily distract us from our goals. By anticipating these, and having a plan, we can prevent them from slowing progress. If your mobile phone distracts you while studying, turn it off and put it somewhere less accessible. If you often need coffee while studying, prepare some ahead of time in an insulated flask. As a general principle, set up your work or study environment so distractions are minimised, but you still have everything you might need.

Some people go to the library with a group of friends with the intention to study, but then end up chatting the whole time and disrupt other people in the library. It’s fine to study with friends, but make sure you actually are studying and your friends aren’t just a distraction. Don’t study with friends if you know you won’t get much done.

It’s important to take breaks, but if your breaks go longer than planned, and you have difficulty getting back to work, it is likely you are procrastinating rather than taking a healthy break. If you decide to take a break, what are good options? A short walk or sitting quietly and having a snack might be good choices. Bad options will be activities you could have trouble stopping like playing video games. These aren’t necessarily the same for everyone, some students might be fine just looking at social media for 10 minutes. Others might not be able to stop once they start.

There are many activities that are unsuitable for study breaks. Basically anything that you will have trouble stopping once absorbed in. Some examples include:

In order that 25 minutes doesn’t turn into an hour, it can be useful to keep track of time such as by setting a timer to remind yourself to get back to work. After returning from a break, do you resume working on your main task or do you get sidetracked? Try to dive right back into your main task rather than allow yourself to get distracted.

When trying to stay on task, things won’t always go as planned. Expect the occasional failure. Predict how things might go wrong and take steps to prevent it. For instance, you might normally study with friends, but then end up talking for hours. In future decline your friends offer to study together and instead study alone. Another example is you go to the library to study, but people are talking loudly. This is so common that you need to come prepared with foam earplugs or other ways of blocking out the noise.

Being fatigued will increase the risk of losing concentration. Schedule challenging tasks when you are fresh. Too many students leave a challenging assignment till late the night before it is due. Not everyone can work well at this late hour.

Some people are morning larks (early birds) and tend to feel most alert early in the day. Whereas night owls feel more energetic and alert late in the day and in the early evening. Night owls find it difficult to wake up early. If you are a night owl, avoid scheduling classes early in the morning, that 8am class will kill you. Similarly, a night owl would be better to take a challenging lab class in the afternoon rather than morning.

When procrastinating we can come up with an endless array of excuses. Be prepared to talk back against these excuses. In other words, prepare rebuttals for the common excuses you might come up with.

Leading a healthy lifestyle can help strengthen our willpower. A lot can be written about healthy living, but some things to keep in mind include:

Just having a strong goal does little to guarantee that we will achieve it. A variety of problems can be encountered such as forgetting to get started, being unsure how to proceed with the task, or having an initial reluctance to act. Even if the task is successfully started, there is the potential to get derailed. A student who has started their essay may be distracted when they hear other students in the flat laughing and socialising. How do we protect pursuing a goal from obstacles that include distractions, temptations, and barriers?

Spelling out the when, where, and how of working working towards a goal helps protect from distractions. Implementation intentions are statements of the form "If situation Y is encountered, then I will initiate goal‐directed behavior X!" [18]. These may help inhibit procrastination tendencies by limiting the number of decisions that can be made.

Some examples of implementation intentions include:

Why do people get derailed when pursuing their goals? Three problems that can send people off track are [19]:

Implementation intentions are an effective strategy for preventing interference with our goals [20]. They can be used to link specific cues to act (the if) with the desired action (the then ), and have been shown to help us stay on target. It’s another tool that students can add to their anti-procrastination arsenal.

If you simply have no time to study, or are too tired to study due to working long hours, then that isn’t strictly speaking procrastination, but it is something that needs to be addressed. Some students impose unrealistic demands on themselves that leave little time to study. It’s not uncommon to see questions on social media about whether full-time work and full-time study can be combined, along with comments from individuals about how they have successfully done that. That just isn’t realistic for most people. Some of those people claiming that are likely not being honest, others are doing a very easy course or even have a job that allows them free time for university work. Alternatively, they may be undertaking a course where they have a lot of prior knowledge, such as a professional programmer pursuing a computer science degree. If financial constraints mean working a lot of hours is needed, a more realistic plan is to only study part-time or to defer study until more money has been saved.

Students procrastinate on tasks they find unpleasant. But is there a way to change how a task is viewed? Can you reframe the task so it invokes more positive feelings and makes procrastination less likely?

While it’s true we procrastinate on a task by browsing YouTube, Instagram, and other sites, they aren’t the cause of procrastination. Rather, the task is avoided due to its unpleasant nature and associated negative emotional states. Browsing social media is just a tool to distract us from emotions like anxiety or boredom.

Procrastinators are rewarded in two ways: firstly they get to avoid the negative task, and secondly they get to enjoy the alternative activity [2]. Longer term though, putting off an important task can lead to additional negative emotions such as guilt, stress, and anxiety [21].

Procrastination can lead to a downward spiral that impacts our mental health. First we feel bad about the task, then we delay the task, now we feel bad about delaying as well. In turn, the delay leads to a failure to reach our intended goals, which may cause depression and anxiety. These feelings can then lead to more avoidance of tasks and less tolerance for setbacks [2].

Negative self-views can increase negative moods and therefore the urge to procrastinate. These include

Completing any task is going to involve setbacks. Individuals with low self-esteem perceive these setbacks as personal inadequacies. Some aspects of perfectionism can also lead to procrastination. Small mistakes result in harsh self-criticism. Moreover, perfectionists can be reluctant to ask for assistance from classmates or instructors, viewing this as evidence of not living up to their own high standards.

Next time you are procrastinating on a university assignment, consider the automatic thoughts that are going through your head. They might be false or only half true. Take a note of these beliefs, then look for distortions.

Some examples of distorted thoughts a student might experience that lead to procrastination include:

Identifying and correcting automatic thoughts is discussed further in the chapter on social anxiety, which although a different problem, overlaps in terms of the types of cognitive distortions that can occur.

Procrastination involves sacrificing the future for the present. Important tasks are left until right before the deadline, leaving inadequate time and high stress levels. When we procrastinate on some important task, that task gets loaded onto our future self. Some people feel distant from their future selves so are happy to push unpleasant tasks to them to deal with. Maybe a student is faced with a difficult assignment that is due at the end of semester (which is three weeks away). They choose to leave the task to their future self who they hope will be more energetic, more motivated, and might even have some better ideas about how to tackle it. Is it really fair to push today’s work to your future self? They will now have to face dealing with a large number of difficult tasks in a short amount of time. Your current self is causing hardship to your future self [2].

Suppose you have an exam in two weeks and can’t seem to start studying. One technique you could try is to imagine your future self studying the night before the exam. Are they relaxed because they prepared well or in a stressed frantic state because their previous selves hadn’t done much study? Imagining things from the perspective of your future self makes you consider your own future welfare and be less likely to procrastinate.

Delaying action in the belief that your future self will be better prepared, or in a better mental state, is not a realistic or fair strategy.

University assignments can seem to largely consist of uninspiring tasks. As mentioned previously, it’s easy to procrastinate on difficult and boring tasks, but think about your career goals and why you enrolled in that degree in the first place? Even if this particular class is boring, think about after graduation and how you are enjoying your career. Consider making a short list of statements about why you chose the degree and why it is meaningful and important to you. When you start to struggle with some aspect of the course, reread this list of statements. If a task is personally meaningful to a person, they are more likely to become absorbed in it.

It can be a bad idea to choose a degree that leaves you struggling to find personal meaning. For example, a student might have chosen law since it is prestigious despite having no personal interest in the subject. Think carefully before starting a degree that holds no personal meaning.

Another common scenario is studying a degree that originally had personal meaning, but then losing sight of that as the difficulties and frustrations mount. This reinforces the importance of taking time to reflect on why the degree is important to you. Take steps to try to rediscover the personal meaning in the degree.

Social temptations can amplify the tendency to procrastinate on a task. The availability of alternative and more fun activities can make the original task appear less enjoyable. Staying connected to the meaning of a task can help buffer us from these temptations. This means thinking about the purpose of the task and why it is important to complete. If we look hard, we can sometimes find elements of intrinsic motivation in what seems like tasks undertaken mostly on an extrinsic basis. For example, a student might feel pressured to write an essay only because they eventually want to graduate and pursue their intended career. But by working carefully on each essay they are also improving their writing skills. Becoming a better writer can be viewed as a form of personal growth. Similarly, talking with other students about the essay and exchanging hints and ideas can help improve your social network.

One cause of procrastination is that we are not optimistic about success, hence we put off trying or delay getting started. If you feel a lack of optimism is a cause of procrastination two techniques that might be helpful are success spirals and vicarious victory [10].

Success spirals involve setting a series of challenging but achievable goals. Each goal that is achieved energises us for the next goal. The mindset from achieving success generalises to goals in other areas. The trick with success spirals is to start small and build on each achievement. Try not to overwhelm yourself with goals that are too ambitious. Break larger goals down to smaller increments. One example might be someone that is unfit but wants to be able to jog two kilometres. They would start by just walking the distance. Then they might start jogging for 100m and then walking 300m and repeating this five times. Gradually they build up the ratio of jogging to walking and feel energised by each success.

Think about areas of interest and how you can build on existing skills. Also think about new interests you would like to develop. Examples might include sports like kayaking, sailing, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, surfing, martial arts, tennis, or badminton to name a few. If you don’t like sports, consider taking a class in painting, drawing, photography, cooking, music, woodworking, or car maintenance. All provide opportunities for success spirals. The idea behind success spirals is that the optimism generalises to other areas of a person’s life.

A complementary strategy is vicarious victory. In this context vicarious victory refers to joining a social group or surrounding yourself with peers that are positive and supportive. Another source of vicarious victory is to look for inspiration from books, movies, and speeches. Optimism is contagious, but the opposite is also true. Try and avoid environments with too much pessimism.

Two possible strategies for improving optimism are success spirals and vicarious victory. If you have the opportunity, they are worth trying. It may take time to see results, so use them alongside other strategies that can be implemented more quickly.

Ethan spends a lot of time focusing on his past life at high school. The job delivering pizzas where the manager treated him badly and then fired him, the car he restored that got stolen, and the bullies that made his life hell. These things are true and unfortunate, but can’t be changed now. Focusing on them robs him of chances to focus on the present and build a positive future. That doesn’t mean he has to forgive the people that wronged him, simply that it is better not to waste energy on them.

The problem is that feelings of anger about perceived wrongs can easily consume us and divert energy from more productive pursuits such as accomplishing goals. It could well be the case that a person did treat you unfairly, but feeling angry takes a lot of time and energy that is better spent more productively. Leave behind regrets and feelings of anger and instead focus on your goals and doing the best you can [7].

The very nature of essays seems to encourage procrastination. Some other university assignments while challenging might consist of a list of questions. This list structure naturally segments the assignment making it easier to tackle. Social media is full of questions of the form, "I’ve got a 2500 word essay due in three days. Is it possible to finish?".

When it comes to essays break down the large task into a series of steps and then focus on each step at a time.

If you are running out of time, try reading just a few key articles and start sketching an outline. Then fill in extra details using only the abstracts of articles.

If you must use AI tools, use them carefully and in a way that is compatible with your department’s rules. For example it’s usually permissible to use AI to summarise a long and complex textbook chapter so that you can understand it. Just don’t then copy this paraphrased material directly into your essay. AI tools are notoriously bad at many things such as generating reference lists. Hallucination is a major issue and many students have gotten themselves in trouble by using a reference that AI has imagined.

Remember even an incomplete essay is worth some marks. If you don’t have time to polish your draft, just submit the draft version. If you can’t reach the word count by the deadline, hand in what you’ve done.

Sometimes procrastinators are reluctant to make an important decision. Being indecisive can protect you from psychological threats that arise from making a wrong decision, but ultimately be maladaptive because important life decisions are deferred or never made. Develop the habit of gathering information and then making decisions. Tell yourself you can make a decision, even if not 100% of them will be correct.

In the short term, procrastination is rewarding because we avoid an unpleasant or difficult task. In the long term, it can be costly since important tasks remain either incomplete or we are forced to do them in a rush and consequently do a poor job. With consistent application of these strategies, procrastination should reduce over time. Realistically, it may not be possible to eliminate procrastination completely as it is intertwined with our very nature.